Toronto Day One: Graffiti, Rollercoasters, Ice Cream, and Backyard Fishing

*My travel recaps from our trip to Toronto were deleted due to an issue with my previous blog server; I still had all the text from my daily summaries and I’m slowly going back, adding relevant pictures to those travel logs, and reposting them to my new website. *

We were still acclimating to Eastern time so, despite a late night on Monday, we were awake relatively early on Tuesday morning for our first full day in Toronto. We walked to the nearest subway station (1.5 km away) to catch a train downtown. (We were staying at a family member’s condo just outside the central core.)

This was the only day we packed lunch – it came in handy on Centre Island, but it was a nuisance to be lugging water bottles and any substantial amount of food in the one backpack we brought for the day. (We could have divvied up the load and had everyone carry a backpack, but it’s a hassle to keep track of that many items on the go in a city.)

It was L’s first time on a subway and both kids enjoyed the 25-minute, air-conditioned ride to Union Station – the main transit hub in downtown Toronto. John and I each bought a public transit day pass ($13.50); kids under 12 ride free!

I’d say my biggest regret while in Toronto was not having a better understanding of the bus/streetcar system. The subway was great (clean, organized, modern, efficient, intuitive!) and we navigated it easily, but ended up doing a lot of extra walking because we didn’t maximize the other transit options. I find public transit to be such a challenge to decipher when you’re unfamiliar with a location – even with various apps providing step-by-step directions. Because it was so hot (and both kids were tired from travel + feeling a little under the weather), the extra walking really wore them down. To be fair – by 8 pm we had logged 25 km, so they deserved to be tuckered out!

The day’s agenda:
● Graffiti Alley
● Centre Island/Centreville Amusement Park/Gibraltar Point Lighthouse
● Yonge Street/Flatiron/St. Lawrence Market
● Casa Loma
● Nova Era Bakery
● BBQ Supper with friends

We started out at Graffiti Alley which is located near Chinatown and Kensington Market. It is exactly what it describes itself to be – an alley filled with graffiti. John and I always seek out street art when we travel, so this concentrated hub of graffiti was a highlight from our first day in Toronto.

We had walked the 2 km from Union Station up to Graffiti Alley but figured out how to take a streetcar (the one and only time we used the streetcar system – a fun experience!) down to the waterfront and made our way to the ferry terminal for the Toronto Islands.

There are lots of private water taxis, but they’re quite a bit more expensive than the ferries. Unfortunately, these ferries are not tied to Toronto public transit (so our day passes didn’t work); tickets totaled about $25 for our whole family. There are fifteen different islands (I think?), but ferry wharf access is located on Ward, Centre, and Hanlan Islands. We selected the ferry for Centre Island and picnicked as soon as we arrived. After standing in line at the ferry terminal for 30 minutes, the carbohydrate boost of lunch
helped to rally spirits.

The main focus for the kids was visiting Centreville Amusement Park. It is marketed as being suited for children aged 3-10 and I’d say this assessment is very accurate. In the end, it was a great fit for our family. We bought a sheet of tickets ($30), and that allowed the kids to go on three rides. They chose the flume ride (their runaway favourite), the rollercoaster (it was small, but one child was VERY much not a fan), and the carousel (there were complaints from one child about this selection, but when all was said and
done it was a big hit for them both. It was a very nice carousel and the ride lasted forever). Just about everything else was tiny and underwhelming, but would be perfect for preschoolers! I will say the park was quite dated/old; the kids didn’t mind, but I found the vibe slightly depressing. Side note: Canada’s Wonderland is a HUGE modern amusement park located just outside Toronto, and has been a favourite for John his whole life. We had debated taking the kids to Canada’s Wonderland, but our stint at Centre Island confirmed that our kids aren’t ready for rollercoasters like Behemoth and Leviathan just yet. (I’m also NOT a big fan of rollercoasters, either).

After their tickets were gone, we wandered around the island, ending up on the shores of Lake Ontario. This is a HUGE lake (for perspective: this lake is ~8.25x the size of England and ~15x the size of Ireland; even so, it is the smallest of the Great Lakes). The kids splashed around in the water for a bit, but found it cold (I thought it was interesting that the lifeguard was stationed in a rowboat offshore, not from a chair on the sand!).

We started off on the several-kilometer walk to the wharf on Hanlan’s Island. It was HOT. The kids were TIRED. The walk was mostly rather boring. And, at one point, I thought I might be dying (read on for details). If I had it to do over again, I’d take the ferry back from the much closer wharf on Centre Island.

But…our family is on a perpetual quest to find new lighthouses. Imagine my delight to discover there was a “haunted” – the first light keeper mysteriously disappeared in the 1800’s – lighthouse on Hanlan’s Island. When we reached the lighthouse, the air was filled with…something? It looked like small whisps of cotton floating in the sky. And it was EVERYWHERE. I didn’t really pay it any attention – until I inhaled one of the pieces and could. not. breath. It was actually rather scary. My eyes started watering, which caused the sunscreen on my face to get into my eyes. At this point I couldn’t see, couldn’t breath, and was hack-coughing which, in the era of a global pandemic, does not look good. When I finally recovered, I made sure to breath through my nose for the rest of our walk. We eventually stopped at a vending machine for a $4 bottle of Coke. Prices for food on the islands were outrageous, so it was a good day to have packed a lunch!

Getting onto the ferry and off our feet felt…amazing…and the boat ride back was relaxing (L and I decided to sit inside in the shade). These ferry rides offer great views of the Toronto skyline, especially the iconic CN Tower – the tallest building in North America – and Rogers Centre/Skydome.

Back on the mainland, we did some more exploring. We walked along the waterfront, took a picture of One Yonge Street (technically the longest street in the world at 1,1178 miles), stopped for pictures of the “Flatiron” Building (Gooderham Building; built in 1892 and often compared with the NYC Flatiron), wandered through St. Lawrence Market (named the World’s Best Food Market by National Geographic), got the kids some soft-serve ice cream/used public bathrooms at McDonalds, and then headed away from the downtown core for Casa Loma.

The ice cream lifted spirits momentarily, but we were tired. We were hot. We had walked about 18 km at this point and didn’t manage to figure out the right bus route for our next destination so ended up walking.

When we finally got to Casa Loma – built as a private residence in the early 1900’s and considered to be one of the only “castles” in North America – we discovered we had to pay an entry fee to see any of the grounds (details were murky online and we thought we could access some parts of the grounds for free). We didn’t plan to go in (it would have cost $100 for the family and it was only 30 minutes before closing time) but we would have enjoyed strolling the grounds. Whomp, whomp. And one child suddenly needed to use the washroom very urgently and there were NO public bathrooms. A very helpful parking attendant pointed out a nearby portapotty. We ran over full of hope, only to find it padlocked. Next we ran (literally) to a Tim Hortons about 1 km away and a crisis was averted, but the whole finding-public-bathrooms-with-smallish- kids was a perpetual stressor throughout our trip.

We walked a few more kilometers (!!) to a well-known Portuguese bakery, Nova Era. John is Portuguese and we always seek out authentic pastéis de nata – famous Portuguese custard tarts – whenever possible.

These ones were incredible, and we brought them along as a contribution to supper. (Pastéis de nata have shown up a few times as a technical challenge for The Great British Bake Off and it always makes me so happy to see them featured. They are delicious and, as a fun personal note, we served these as the “groom’s cake” at our wedding and people raved about them.)

Speaking of our wedding, one of our groomsmen lives in Toronto with his wife and infant son. We had not seen them in almost 13 years!! It was so much fun to reconnect and they hosted a backyard BBQ for our family. We enjoyed the view from their rooftop terrace – which had fabulous views of the city – and A and I snuck in some baby snuggles while L spent the evening trying to net koi fish in their backyard pond (he was rather unsuccessful, but it filled his time nicely). Despite lots of complaints during the day (and
the stress of finding bathrooms and the sweltering heat) the kids were so well behaved. They had never met this couple before and were polite, friendly, outgoing, and good sports for the evening.

Mercifully our friends gave us directions for taking a bus back to the subway station (the bus stop was literally 100 feet from their house). It still took us almost an hour to get out of the city, but at least we weren’t walking.

And that was the end of a very full first day in Toronto.